Products based on commercial ice cream in which whole biscuits are present are generally sandwiches. The biscuits cover the bottom and top surfaces of the ice cream, partially or completely. These biscuits are in general very dry to confer on them the stiffness and the mechanical resistance which are necessary for their processing on a production line. The faces of the biscuits in contact with the ice cream are not generally covered with a fatty layer serving as a barrier to the transfer of moisture. Consequently, they rapidly become moist and become soft. This change is advantageous when a low contrast in texture between the ice cream and the biscuit is sought, which is for example the case in a sandwich which should be capable of being cut through its full thickness without crushing the central layer of ice cream.
Recently, ice cream cakes comprising crunchy biscuits as inclusions have appeared on the market. Compared to the sandwich, a contrast in texture between the biscuit and the ice cream is permanently sought. In this case, the biscuit should have a much better resistance to moisture regain than that commonly used in the manufacture of sandwiches. That is all the more necessary as both faces of the biscuit are in contact with the ice cream.
It has been proposed, for example in EP-A-0 954 977, to use oriental-type biscuits manufactured from brick dough or filo dough. Although such types of biscuits solve the problem of maintaining crunchiness in the presence of ice cream, their manufacture, while it is common from a craft industry point of view, is complex to carry out on an industrial scale. These biscuits have in addition the disadvantage of being either fragile or soft and are therefore particularly delicate to handle.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,626, it has been proposed to solve the problem of the moisture regain by biscuits having a crunchy character intended for products based on filled puff dough, for example of the “Apfelstrudel” type by making available a composite dough. The latter consists of a layer of developed puff dough combined with a shortcrust-type dough which serves as an anchoring layer for a moisture barrier layer, both dough layers, prepared separately, then being co-laminated and then baked, and the barrier layer then being deposited on the anchoring layer.
While these have some utility, improvements in these type products are desired, and these improvements are provided by the present invention.